THE 

INEVITABLE 

STEP 

% REV.  FRANK  KINGDON 

LANSING,  MIcffiGAN 


ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE  BIENNIAL  CONVENTION 
OF  THE  ANTI-SALOON  LEAGUE  OF  AMERICA 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  DECEMBER  7,  1927 


THE  AMERICAN  ISSUE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
WESTERVILLE.  OHIO 
U.  S,  A. 


THE  INEVITABLE  STEP 


WE  are  continually  being  told  that  we 
are  living  in  a new  day,  but  it  is  not 
very  often  that  we  are  told  just  what 
factors  have  made  this  new  day.  These  factors 
are  mainly  three:  the  industrial  revolution,  the 
revolution  in  communications  and  the  conse- 
quent growth  of  our  cities.  The  industrial 
revolution  has  completely  changed  the  whole 
fabric  of  our  industrial  and  economic  life. 
The  revolution  in  communications  has  re- 
duced the  whole  world  to  a single  neighbor- 
hood and  so  has  pressed  upon  us  with  new 
force  the  whole  problem  of  living  together. 
The  growth  of  our  cities  has  shifted  the  equi- 
librium of  our  population  from  the  rural  to 
the  urban  centers  and  so  has  necessitated  a 
redefining  of  the  majority  of  our  social  con- 
ceptions. All  together  our  society  is  more 
closely  knit  than  ever  and  its  problems  are 
more  intense  and  difficult  as  a result. 

In  this  complex  society  the  political  prob- 
lem of  mankind  is  to  combine  the  three  ideals 
of  economic  efficiency,  social  justice  and  in- 
dividual liberty  into  a working  social  order. 
Our  difficulty  is  magnified  by  the  fact  that 
while  these  three  ideals  are  not  mutually  ex- 
clusive they  are  mutually  difficult.  Economic- 
efficiency  is  apt  to  carry  a threat  against  so- 
cial \'alues  when  it  puts  production  above- 
personality. Nor  is  it  always  easy  to  recon- 
cile Industrial  efficiency  with  the  conserva- 
tion of  individual  libert-y^  lit  would  be  a 
[2  1 


bold  man,  also,  who  would  venture  to  set  an 
exact  boundary  at  which  individual  liberty 
ends  and  social  obligations  begin. 

Tn  this  discussion,  however,  after  pointing 
out  that  these  three  problems  are  upon  us  I 
wish  to  confine  myself  to  indicating  how  im- 
portant the  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic 
is  to  the  solving  of  each  of  them.  The  abol- 
ishing of  the  use  of  alcohol  in  the  social  body 
is  an  essential  preparation  for  the  solution  of 
the  political  problem  of  mankind. 

Ady  first  point  is  that  prohibition  is  essen- 
tial to  economic  efficiency. 

The  stress  on  the  necessity  of  economic  ef- 
ficiency arises  out  of  the  fact  that  while  our 
natural  resources  are  being  depleted  our  pop- 
ulation is  steadily  increasing.  Modern  science 
has  given  us  new  skill  in  destroying  our  re- 
sources and  new  skill  in  saving  life.  With 
less  material  and  more  people  we  have  to  de- 
velop greater  efficiency.  There  are  two  fac- 
tors which  must  be  safeguarded:  we  must  use 
the  raw  material  we  have  to  the  limit  of  its 
usefulness  and  we  must  get  all  that  we  con- 
sistently can  out  of  the  human  material  in- 
volved. Economic  efficiency  demands  that 
physically  and  mentally  man  must  be  at  his 
best. 

Our  industrial  organization  also  demands 
that  the  capital  tied  up  in  machinery  shall  be 
made  to  earn  its  way.  This  means  that  every 
machine  must  be  worked  as  long  as  possible 
and  must  produce  as  much  as  possible.  Thus 
economic  efficiency  demands  that  production 
shall  be  increased  as  much  as  is  practicable. 
Incidentally  the  threat  of  machinery  against 
human  welfare  will  be  wiped  out  if  produc- 
tion can  be  speeded  to  the  point  where  the 
working  day  is  shortened.  Already  we  have 

[3] 


reduced  the  laboring  day  from  fourteen  and 
twelve  hours  to  ten  and  eight  hours.  The  op- 
portunity for  leisure,  culture  and  self-expres- 
sion in  the  lives  of  the  laboring  classes  will 
be  increased  in  direct  proportion  to  the  in- 
crease of  production.  So  we  may  say  that 
economic  efficiency  looking  toward  a higher 
standard  of  living  demands  greater  producr 
tion. 

An  important  and  growing  feature  of  our 
economic  life  is  the  larger  and  larger  use  of 
credit.  Credit  is  no  longer  a matter  between 
business  organizations.  We  are  developing 
a system  where  individuals  as  such  are  doing 
a large  share  of  their  buying  on  credit.  One 
jewelry  store  in  our  city  of  eighty-five  thou- 
sand has  thirteen  thousand  customers  on  its 
books  buying  goods  on  credit.  So  much 
money  is  now  tied  up  over  the  nation  in  this 
way  that  any  threat  against  it  might  easily 
produce  a financial  panic.  The  bubble  of 
credit,  however,  will  not  burst  if  confidence 
in  the  buying  power  and  the  honesty  of  the 
average  consumer  can  be  maintained. 

These  three  things,  then,  are  tied  up  in  the 
ideal  of  economic  efficiency- — man-power, 
production  and  credit.  The  liquor  traffic  is 
a threat  against  economic  safety  because  it 
weakens  men  through  the  poisonous  effects 
of  alcohol  on  body  and  mind.  It  stifles  pro- 
duction because  it  keeps  the  worker  away 
from  his  machine  during  the  necessary  period 
of  recovery  from  a drunken  orgy  and  also  be- 
cause it  increases  the  labor  turn-over.  It  de- 
stroys credit  because  it  shakes  confidence  in 
its  victims  and  lessens  consumption  of  other 
goods.  Alcohol  saps  the  economic  life-blood 
of  the  community.  Prohibition  is  a prereq- 
uisite of  economic  efficiency. 

[4] 


My  second  point  is  that  prohibition  is  es- 
sential to  social  justice. 

The  stress  of  our  day  on  the  necessity  for 
social  effectiveness  arises  out  of  the  simple 
fact  that  men  are  being  thrown  together  more 
than  ever  before.  This  means  that  we  must 
develop  a new  technique  for  living  together 
successfully.  Our  social  organizations  are 
assuming  a new  importance  and  our  social 
obligations  a new  insistence.  There  are  no 
isolated  communities  any  more.  None  of  us 
can  wrap  the  cloak  of  isolation  about  us  and 
be  separate  from  our  fellows,  the  course  of 
events  has  thrown  us  together  in  one  great 
community  of  interests.  The  citizen  of  the 
new  day  must  be  unselfish  and  enthusiastic 
in  spirit,  having  a lively  social  conscience  and 
and  alert  social  intelligence.  Social  effective- 
ness must  begin  with  socially  minded  indi- 
viduals. 

The  simplest  social  structure  is  the  home. 
It  is  the  cornerstone  of  society  itself,  for  with- 
out the  home  our  social  life  could  not  stand. 
It  is  the  pattern  of  society,  for  in  spite  of 
its  weaknesses  it  is  the  most  successful  social 
group  man  has  yet  devised.  It  is  the  train- 
ing ground  for  our  social  virtues,  for  the  atti- 
tudes we  take  out  into  the  larger  society  are 
those  we  have  built  up  in  the  home.  The 
home  is  the  strategic  center  of  human  rela- 
tions. 

The  collection  of  homes  makes  the  com- 
munity. Community  loyalty  and  oride  is  the 
seed  out  of  which  grow  the  wider  loyalties 
of  life.  The  intensive  cultivation  of  commu- 
nity spirit  out  of  which  grows  community 
righteousness  is  essential  to  complete  social 
effectiveness.  This  includes  all  community 
good  works,  including  such  matters  as  good 

[5] 


streets  and  buildings  and  the  larger  matters 
of  justice  in  the  dealing  of  man  with  man. 

When  communities  come  together  they 
form  states  and  nations.  The  first  safeguard 
of  state  and  nation  is  integrity.  Disintegra- 
tion begins  when  righteousness  and  clean 
citizenship  go.  If  men  are  to  live  together 
successfully  in  national  groups  they  must  re- 
tain confidence  in  their  governments. 

These  four  things,  then,  are  included  in  the 
ideal  of  social  effectiveness:  socially-minded 
individuals,  safeguarded  homes,  clean  com- 
munities and  national  integrity.  The  liquor 
traffic  is  a social  danger  because  it  robs  men 
of  social  conscience,  it  is  the  enemy  of  the 
home,  its  saloons  are  blots  on  the  commu- 
nity and  it  corrupts  politics  and  so  destroys 
the  confidence  of  citizens  in  their  govern- 
ments. The  trade  in  alcohol  is  not  only  un- 
social, it  is  anti-social.  It  is  the  most  anti- 
social traffic  we  have  ever  had  in  human  so- 
ciety. Prohibition  is  a prerequisite  of  social 
effectiveness. 

My  third  point  is  that  prohibition  is  es- 
sential to  individual  liberty. 

No  ideal  is  dearer  to  those  who  share  the 
.\nglo-Saxon  tradition  than  that  of  individ- 
ual liberty.  It  is  a privilege  we  have  long 
sought  from  Runnymede  in  1216  to  the  pres- 
ent day.  The  greatest  names  of  our  history 
are  the  names  of  those  who  have  given  them- 
selves most  sacrificially  to  the  cause  of  hu- 
man liberty.  This  ideal  is  a precious  heritage 
and  we  canot  afford  to  let  it  go. 

It  is  particularly  important  that  we  empha- 
size it  in  these  days  of  ours,  for  back  of  it 
lies  the  great  truth  of  the  supremacy  of  hu- 
man values  above  all  other  values.  The  wel- 
fare of  man  outweighs  the  profits  of  indus- 
[6] 


try  and  is  the  true  motive  for  society.  De- 
mocracy is  the  expression  of  this  ideal  in 
governmental  form.  If  we  are  to  safeguard 
the  passion  for  liberty,  government  must  be 
not  only  of  and  for  but  by  the  people. 

The  successful  working  of  any  democracy 
demands  the  keeping  alive  of  the  attitude  of 
tolerance.  Democracy  is  government  by  de- 
bate and  tolerance  is  the  expression  of  our 
faith  in  the  inherent  power  of  truth  to  vindi- 
cate itself.  Fanaticism  which  would  choke 
off  freedom  of  utterance  is  an  enemy  of  de- 
mocracy. We  cannot  live  together  success- 
fully if  we  do  not  recognize  and  respect  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  and  allow  them  utterance. 

Along  with  tolerance  must  go  a recogni- 
tion of  the  profound  contribution  which  can 
be  made  to  the  world  only  through  individ- 
uals as  individuals.  We  need  in  our  day, 
which  works  so  much  in  masses  of  men,  a 
new  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  the  in- 
dividual. A man’s  greatest  contribution  to 
society  comes  not  when  he  is  most  conven- 
tionalized but  when  he  is  most  himself. 

Strangely  enough  the  ideal  of  individual 
liberty  has  been  seized  on  by  the  enemies  of 
prohibition  in  the  name  of  the  greatest  foe 
individual  liberty  ever  had.  The  liquor  traf- 
fic always  has  been -and  is  today  the  outstand- 
ing enemy  of  liberty.  In  the  old  days  of  the 
Bourbons  when  there  was  any  sign  of  in- 
cipient rebellion  the  autocrat  made  his  foun- 
tains run  wine,  and  when  the  people  were 
drunk  the  rebellion  subsided.  Alcohol  was 
the  favorite  weapon  of  the  autocrat  and  by 
It  he  kept  his  people  subject.  In  our  Ameri- 
can life  liquor  was  the  favorite  tool  of  the 
political  boss  who  established  his  headquar- 
ters in  the  saloon  and  held  his  cohorts  in  line 

[7] 


by  giving  them  booze.  The  use  of  the  argu- 
ment for  individual  liberty  to  bolster  up  the 
cause  of  liquor  betrays  a cynical  disregard  of 
the  facts  of  history. 

The  ideal  of  individual  lilicrty  demands 
true  democracy  in  government,  a spirit  of 
tolerance  and  appreciation  of  individuality. 
The  liquor  traffic  is  the  sworn  foe  of  democ- 
racy, for  it  has  never  shown  itself  amenable 
to  any  kind  of  legal  control  but  has  always 
sought  to  capture  the  machinerj^  of  govern- 
ment for  its  own  use.  In  our  own  day  it 
shows  itself  to  be  the  enemy  of  tolerance  for 
the  wet  crowd  are  so  fanatical  that  they  will 
not  allow  even  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  to  stand  in  the  way  of  their  own  self- 
satisfaction.  They  like  to  call  the  prohibi- 
tion forces  fanatics,  but  we  ha\-c  no  fanaticism 
which  can  compare  with  theirs,  for  they  are 
w'illing  to  undermine  the  whole  structure  of 
law  and  order  to  satisfy  a single  desire  and  to 
maintain  a particular  idea.  Liquor  also  de- 
feats individuality  because  it  muddies  a man’s 
mind,  prevents  clear  thinking  and  destroj-s 
self-control.  Alcohol  is  the  sworn  foe  of  in- 
dividual expression  and  development.  Prohi- 
bition is  a prerequisite  of  individual  liberty. 

Prohibition  is  not  a sudden  vagary  of 
thought,  it  is  an  inevitable  step.  It  came  be- 
cause it  was  time  for  it  tb  come  in  the  devel- 
opment of  society.  It  is  essential  in  our  mod- 
ern world  to  the  solution  of  the  political 
problem  of  mankind.  We  have  many  oppo- 
nents, but  prohibition  cannot  fail  because  it 
is  backed  by  the  course  of  events. 


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